Electronic devices may be used to sense or measure physical quantities. In order to sense or measure the strength and direction of a magnetic field parallel to the surface of, e.g., a semiconductor die, vertical Hall devices may be used. Most vertical Hall devices suffer from the fact that the spinning current method, which is used to cancel the zero-point error of the Hall devices, does not work very well. With known methods of the spinning current scheme it is possible to obtain residual zero point errors of about 1 mT. A reason for this rather poor offset behavior can be found in the asymmetry of the vertical Hall device. Although it is known how to connect four vertical Hall devices in order to improve the symmetry, the contact resistances still cause residual asymmetries.
Another physical quantity that may be sensed or measured is mechanical stress within an object such as a substrate, in particular a semiconductor substrate. To this end, an electronic device may be used that has a similar structure as a Hall device. Indeed, it may suffice to slightly modify some internal connections of a suitable Hall device in order to obtain a mechanical stress sensor.